"I am always happy to take credit where blame is due."--John Davis Frain

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Speaking of the Canon

The canon is what one must have read to be
considered well-educated. There is the canon for Western civilization
which is largely books that are non-fiction. There is the canon of
English literature (the books you'd see in an English Lit survey class
in college.) There is the canon for literature of the American West.

And
of course there is the canon for whatever category you write (or in my
case read) in. I mentioned the canon a few days back as something you'd
need to know if you wanted to write something fresh and new in a
well-trod category.

I hadn't heard the term "the canon" till I got to grad school when it was the subject of fierce debate. I mean fistfight debate. Of course that was just about the time a lot of people realized the literary canon should include people like Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, Tillie Olson, and all those other people who didn't have the balls to be old white men.

But enough of my misspent youth.

Recently, I was reading my requested fulls. One was a fresh take on the old familiar country house murder trope. I had LOVED those books as a kid. Not just for the murder but for the world they created. No surprise I grew up to love Upstairs, Downstairs, Downton Abbey, and my beloved Gosford Park.

Which brings us to The Secret of Chimneys which is an Agatha Christie novel. You might not have heard of it because the main character is Superintendent Battle not the world famous Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple (who I think is the best character ever, and to hell with that walking Belgian mustache.)

But I digress.

I realized as I was reading the manuscript that it had been quite some time since I'd read one of the original country house mysteries. I popped online and sure enough, The Secret of Chimneys was right there in paperback and ebook. I bought the paperback (somehow I had the idea if I did, I'd also get the ebook, but that was my stupidity.)

I started reading the ebook only to discover it stopped about 20 pages in and I'd have to buy it to keep reading.

Now, writer fiends, here's the point of this blog post: I didn't wait till Tuesday, a mere 48 hours from that exact moment, when the paperback would arrive. I didn't wait till Tuesday to finish reading a book I've read at least five times before (admittedly some years back, but I knew whodunit, and I knew the ending.)

I bought the ebook so I could finish the book then and there. And I did. And it was as good, if not better than I remembered (although the racism and classism is just really hard to ignore.)

And that is the pudding proof of damn fine writing.

Thus my suggestion to you: list five go-to books for the canon in your category. Go read them again. See if they hold up. If they do, you know you've got an author to study closely. What they're doing has stood the test of time, changing fashion, changing tastes.

You might not be able to read 100 books in your category but you surely can read five.

If I were to pick five they would be:

The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie
The Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan
The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block

And even as I look at this list I think of all my faves who are not here: Lee Child, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Catriona McPherson, all my clients!!!, Nick Petrie, Lou Berney, and a dozen others I'll think of in another minute.

But my point here is not to choose only five, it's to figure out what works in a novel that appeals to you for YEARS. A novel that you'd use to illustrate essential elements of a novel (I use Key to Rebecca on shifting POV all the time.) A novel that can be YOUR signpost for moving ahead.

When I go to the Met, I often see students painting copies of the great masters. By copying they are learning. It's not plagiarism to copy. It's plagiarism to copy something and pass it off as your original work. Thus, I suggest using these authors as guideposts, but don't just change the names in The Secret of Chimneys and expect to have a bestseller. Superintendent Battle and his sharkly fan will not be happy if you do.

81 comments:

At the tippy-top of my list is Heartburn, by Nora Ephron. I haven't identified the other four, but without a single solitary doubt, Heartburn tops the list. I've read it at least six (?) times and loved every single syllable. The first time I read it was right before I saw the movie (in the theater). That’s when I knew I wanted to be a writer. The book is in sad shape and taped together, but I still read it when I want a 'comfort book.'

I like long-ish, plot driven character fiction with something to say. So for me:The Hotel New Hampshire -- My favorite opening phrase (The summer my father bought the bear ...) that sets the tune for the interpersonal craziness that follows. The beauty of this book (compared to Garp) is that the story doesn't feel as dated, and the insanity that follows feels perfectly natural The Lords of Discipline -- The right mix of plot and character, as well as voice. Conroy has you so deep into Will McClean that you can feel all the madness and chaos he goes through, and it's a reminder that a plot has to pay offThe Fountainhead (I know, I know) -- for all the crap she takes for her philosophy, I think this is a well-plotted, character driven and pretty insightful piece of work. Skinny Legs and All -- still the best mixture of thought-out philosophy and character I've ever read, as well as absolute lunacyAmerican Gods -- As I hope the TV doesn't screw it up, this is a big concept taken large, and it works.

It seems too obvious to cite Lord of the Rings which I have read hundreds of times and wrote a well-received thesis on it - Frodo as the anti-Faust which was done to death by the time my paper was written.

I have read all five books Janet mentions even though not my genre. I tend to study the ones that I love best and revisit them often.

I too remember the empassioned debates over canon when I was in school. Even then, I was such a devout individualist, that I ignored the arguments. Canon to me varied from person to person. It was only the banning (literally or by simple obscurement) that drove my wrath.

When the giant bookstores began to eclipse the little local shops, that also borhered me because of titles that were obscured by corporate shelves.

In my canon for genre, if looking at test of time, I include C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia loosely. It can't be ignored. Then I would perhaps now include Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time which brought me to Brandon Sanderson. Also, David Eddings Belgariad is lovely and still quite enjoyable.

Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness is grand as is Connie Willis's Doomsday Book. The whole of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is amazing although I have a particular fondness for his Equal Rites.

I need coffee. I could go on much longer but I have no point other than to bow for the Queen.

The ones I go back to again and again cross genres a bit. Off the top of my head: The Poisonwood Bible, The Book Thief, The Blind Assassin, Wildwood Dancing, Graceling, Harry Potter, The Passage Series, Hunger Games, and Jurassic Park (strangely enough). All of them make me want to write.

I was always drawn to memoirs, biographies, non-fiction - even as a child. It's still my reading preference. My own titles are non-fiction (stories about the animals who find their way to our sanctuary).

Just recently, however, I completed a middle grade ms. As I was writing, I tried to stay mindful of books or stories that were compelling to me when I was that age. At the top of the list: the "Little House" series.

Thought provoking blog, as always, Janet. Thank you.

But In Cold Blood? Yeah, *cough. No and nope. I can't even look at the cover.

I like reading stories that get me considering matters of everyday life in a new way. And I try to write that kind of stuff.

About a decade ago, I read a short story by John Updike titled Trust Me. It's message stuck. Once, I thought about it while sitting in the dentist's chair getting X-rays. So often we believe people who say, in one way or another, we should trust them. But if they're wrong, they're not the ones who pay the price--we are. I incorporated that message a bit into the novel I'm currently peddling, I mean querying.

Before mentioning the next story, I'm wondering if I should get all sharky and say, "Don't you roll your eyes at me." :) It's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'm intrigued by how our own setting influences our views. That's something I'm exploring in the novel I'm writing now.

It is a source of literary guilt that I haven't yet read The Left Hand of Darkness.

But for me, writing across scifi, fantasy, and horror, with a background in voraciously reading plain ol' literary classics, it seems to me like what counts as canon for all of those categories is a joyously monstrous mountain of work.

For fantasy, if we're talking Epic Fantasy, then yes absolutely Tolkein and C.S. Lewis and Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books. Then throw in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts, Three Lions. But then I write more urban fantasy than secondary world, which means I need to count Dracula (which arguably is also horror canon? when did horror and urban fantasy gain this interesting intersection where the beasties aren't necessarily the bad guys? Anne Rice? Or earlier with Frankenstein?)

For scifi there's The Left Hand of Darkness (I'll get there!), Dune (I feel the first three are the best, personally), Starship Troopers, The Martian Chronicles, and then the slide into cyberpunk with Neuromancer and Snow Crash.

For horror, there's The Haunting of Hill House, and The Yellow Wall-Paper, and pretty much all of Poe but then also Stephen King from Carrie on up, and House of Leaves (which is more recent but holy smokes), and Robert Bloch's Psycho books (which are not precisely 'good' books but.....).

Then (still for horror) the true stories like In Cold Blood and Helter Skelter, the latter of which is honestly the most frightening thing I have ever read in my life, but then if it's couched in "based on a true story" like The Amityville Horror (and House of Leaves, ostensibly), I think it makes it a little more likely to get under our skin, doesn't it?

In cold blood...mmmmm! just wonderfully crafted, then I got mixed up with Prince of thieves and City of thieves (The ww2 stalingrad version of the odyssey. One of my all time fav's except for one scene that I can never wash from my mind.)

I think for me it's

Gogol- The Overcoat (for character development)Robt. Littel - The October Circle (Dated and long at times, but the found objects and their symbolism are outstanding.)Larry Niven - The Ringworld Trilogy. Scope and scale...oooof!

The canon I've read from the most is crime fiction. Working my way through some middle grade stuff; I'm sure I'll have a list by EOY. I've read In Cold Blood--and if you want a lesson on how being nice will not always protect you, that's the book to get--and Prince of Thieves. The others have gone on my list.

My own five:

No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthyLooking for Mr. Goodbar - Judith RossnerMarathon Man - William GoldmanThe Spy Who Came In from the Cold - John Le CarreThe Breach - Patrick Lee (I classify this as crime even though there are strong SF elements)

For me, it comes back to Stephen King's older novels and novellas. I've re-read a number of them over the years and they continue to creep me out - Salem's Lot, Cujo, It - as well as inspire me with their character development - The Body (Stand By Me) and Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption.

Epic fantasy is my genre as well. I agree with the lists provided thus far, though I read everything I can get my hands on. There are lessons to be learned from every bit of good writing regardless of genre.

That said, I want to add five more examples to the lists for epic fantasy: "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander, "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, any and all Arthurian tales, "The Dragonriders of Pern" by Anne McCaffery, and "The Odyssey" by Homer. Yes, most of these are by old (dead) white guys, but they're still canon in my opinion. Anyone who writes epic fantasy who hasn't read piles of mythology is doing themselves a disservice. And I mean mythology from every culture, not just the Romans and Greeks.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith--always, always, alwaysA Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle--I love the philosophy and wit he infuses in his writing.One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez--Generations of family dynamics and a different way of looking at dystopia. This book has been the inspiration behind The Damn Novel since I first read it.The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak--I just love when Death is personified, and this is an excellent example. Also, a coming-of-age against the backdrop of WWII.The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers--a coming of age set in the 1950s with a town full of misfit characters/outcasts.

These are my favorite books and the onesI turn to time and again. I think only two are actually classified as YA, which makes me wonder yet again where my books belong. But the coming of age thread and the nostalgia-based history is where I write, and it's because of these books. I just love them. In fact, "Heart" is the inspiration for my coming of age WIP set in the 50s with a colorful cast of characters. Do they still stand the test of time? To me, they do because they still inspire my writing.

McCullers' novel is similar to Janet's experience reading her book--since it was written in the 50s, times were markedly different from a social context. But McCullers was sensitive and astute even then, and she wove the social issues into a thread for one of her main characters--a black doctor who grappled with racism. When I reread the book recently for my own writing, I could see how far we've come--and not at all.

For epic sci fi, DUNE. For prison break stories, RITA HAYWORTH AND SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. For narrative non-fiction, THE ELECTRIC KOOL AIDE ACID TEST. For fantasy, the LEGENDS trilogy by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. For dystopian, 1984. For women's fiction, THE COLOR PURPLE. For classics, THE GREAT GATSBY. For small town family saga, EMPIRE FALLS. Anything by Steinbeck is pretty much genius.

For me, The Nine Tailors (Sayers) is probably the quintessential mystery novel and if anyone doesn't love Wimsey, they're not human.

Number two is The Stand by King. The first book I read was Carrie, but it's still The Stand that makes the most impression. It's sprawling and commentary and possible and absolutely frightening and I still love it.

I adore anything Marple and have yet to make it through a Poirot. I don't think he holds a candle to her.

In Cold Blood and Helter Skelter are a tie for me.

And last but not least, almost no one here reads romance of any kind, but Gallant Waif by Anne Gracie is the epitome of what a great romance should have and I still well up when Wellington comes to the heroine's rescue. I would love to write that good since that's my genre and its sub groups.

Lord of the Rings series-TolkienChronicles of Narnia series-C.S. Lewis The Crystal Cave series-Mary Stewart This is truly a classic series.A Game of Thrones series-G.R.R Martin Though I have vowed never to read another one of his books until he finishes the series, once I start reading I can't stop and that's danged good writing. That's why I own the books in the series so far, but haven't read them all.The Belgariad-Eddings-I stopped reading him after his wife got involved in the writing. A third of the book was repition of what came before. Trust your reader to remember the previous book without re-writing it a second time to pad the word count.

Don De Lilo is the highest of bars, also Richard Ford. The short stories of Lorrie Moore and Louise Erdrich. Joan Didion always speaks to me. For mysteries, which for me is a vehicle rather than a hard-fast genre, always, Rebecca.

Tolkein and C.S. Lewis because they are good and classic to fantasy.I enjoy and study the way Diana Gabaldon writes. She's one I go to when I need to dissect my own writing. She's not perfect, but she does a lot of things right and it's interesting to take apart how she crafts sentences, descriptions, scenes, and characters, not to mention the story.Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton, Jack Whyte, and Bernard Cornwell for historical writing.James Lee Burke-Burke has a talent not only for story-telling, but also vivid description.Agatha Christie because she just tells a good story, but some have held up better than others with me.Hemingway. Sometimes I just need a no bs story, boiled down to the bones and soul.Crichton. All but the last book they published after his death I could read over and over and I am not given to doing that. He was a master of combining science and thriller and making me believe, yeah, they're probably doing that right now somewhere.Edgar Allan Poe because he was simply a master.O. Henry. Sometimes a person just needs a perfect short story and Jack London fits in the same category.

I read widely in fantasy so I know what's been done, what's good and what's not so good. Some things I refuse to read others hunger after. One fantasy author has a huge following and I despise his writing. I can't stand his characters. I think he's lazy and repititious, but people love him. So, he must be doing something right.

My all-time favorite classic is Little Women. I think it's because I was the oldest girl in a family of seven children, and family dynamics frequently puzzled me as a child, even though my childhood was idyllic.

As a YA writer, John Green is the high priest of masterful writing to me. I can't get over how varied his books are, and how memeorable his characters.

Oh, boy. What a delicious post. I will revisit this comment thread again to mine all the lists for some reading suggestions. As far as mine, I hesitate even attempting to form one, because I'm sure there will be glaring omissions. But I'll give it a whirl.

Catcher in the Rye1984To Kill A MockingbirdAre You There, God It's Me MargaretLittle House on the Prairie seriesLittle Women and the rest of AlcottThorn Birds

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE isn't explicitly YA, but it's still had an outsized influence on the genre, probably because every teen (in the US, at least) reads it in school. Same with THE HOBBIT, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE GREAT GATSBY.

Obviously, there's a lot missing here (very little SFF, for one, plus not a lot of racial or sexual diversity), but if you write YA you absolutely should be familiar with these books, IMO.

What a fun morning thinking about what to add. I'm sure I'll have more later too.

Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner (literature). He defines the title about 2/3 through, and I realized that the entire book illustrated the concept. My dream is to write a book like this.

Ivan Doig, any book. Great storyteller.

(Mystery) Agatha Christie, any and all. Iain Pears. I found his An Instance of the Fingerpost (medieval murder mystery) as a staff pick at the bookstore in Rehoboth Beach DE years ago, and have read everything he's written since. For more medieval murder, I also re-read Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. I still sometimes re-read old (original) Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys for fun and nostalgia.

In my genre of thriller (particularly the legal kind,) the books that stand up the best for me:

To Kill a Mockingbird. The primer on who lawyers wish they were and just how high the stakes can be and how heavy those stakes can be to carry. A must read if you are writing about lawyers. Our secret is that we all aspire to be Atticus Finch and fail and how we reconcile that in our heads.

The Firm by Grisham. No one will accuse it of being lyrical, but it is a romping good time that keeps the pace crackling and makes tax law exciting. Law is dull. Good law is even duller. Grisham makes technical topics fun to read.

Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. This book is a masterwork in creating, maintaining, and meshing multiple timelines into a coherent whole and never losing the tension.

The Godfather. All of Puzo's crime fiction is required reading for crime writers, but Godfather towers.

The New Centurions. Even though it's dated, you can't write about cops without reading Wambaugh.

Kilvinski's Law:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUxjQYiWjTE

That's my crime/thriller/legal canon. All books I could pick up again and read with pleasure and see something or learn something I'd missed before.

Also, a few go-to books that I've worn thin that are masterworks in their own way:

Kinflicks by Lisa Alther. Anyone who ever thinks anything I write is funny is because of this book. It is a masterpiece of bitter biting self-deprecating nihilist humor. Alther is also the reigning queen of the awkward sex scene. It has been described as the Catcher in the Rye for growing up female.

The Grapes of Wrath. This is my "desert island" book. I still carry the copy I stole from the college library in 1979. Steal is a harsh word. I told them I lost it and paid the $1.58. It is the 1953 watercolor cover edition wrapped in clear tape. I read a passage from it at my brother's funeral. Not just the story, but the elegance and lyricism of speech. Writers can also learn a thing or two about alternate POV structure from Steinbeck.

The Dwayne series from Larry McMurtry: Starting with Last Picture Show, through Texasville and "Dwayne's Depressed," damn McMurtry for making me read literary fiction and like it. The last two in the series falter, but like cleaning my plate, I still powered through them to find out the end of Dwayne's story. Dwayne's Depressed gave me one of my favorite lines on how to define the loss of someone with whom you had an intense problematic relationship, "Carla was hard to love and easy to miss." Improve on that, I dare ya . . . People expecting to see Lonesome Dove are often put off by this series, but I think it is his best work.

Barbara Cartland romances. Yup, I said it. The old biddy has sold a BILLION (with a damn "B") books for a reason. The stories are crisp, formulaic, satisfying and the act structure turns on a damn dime. They are like Lay's potato chips. Sometimes I just want to open the cover (or the bag) and know exactly what I'll find inside. Deconstructing several of her books taught me about the 3-act arc. 40 years later they still are in demand on the secondary market when contemporary romances sell for $1 per bag. They are the romance equivalent of crime pulp.

What do all the books on this list have in common? None are "trendy." None are second-person present tense told in retro-linear epistolary haiku. They are solid examples of their craft. Even if the cultural references are dated, the writing stands tall.

Claire: Thank you for bringing up those wonderful picture books. I read them all with my kids when they were younger. Fond memories. Oh, for pity's sake, would you believe this? My eyes, they're moist. Ferdinand, oh Ferdinand, how I loved you.

I've always been an eclectic reader, so my go-tos aren't all science fiction. In fact, not many are.

Terry Pratchett's DiscWorld novels (the entire series, though if I had to choose, I'd choose Wyrd Sisters. Maybe Thud! Though they're very different books.) The first one I read, though, was Moving Pictures, and if you ever want to read a hilarious commentary on the motion picture industry, read this book.

Leslie Charteris' the Saint novels, especially the early ones. And the proof that they can stand the test of time is that I first read these books in the 1980s, when they were written in the 1930s. (Seriously, some of those 1930s novels were darned prescient. They pretty much foresaw World War 2 and should be required reading for anyone interested in today's politics. They were even more prescient than Orwell's 1984 and dug more to the heart of the causes of war.)

Alan Dean Foster's Star Wars and Splinter of the Mind's Eye (yes, both are based on the movie). This was my first foray into science fiction.

James Blish's novelizations of the Star Trek series. Because he didn't just write novelizations. He took the characters and the words and brought them to life even better than they were on the screen.

I haven't read this recently, but the last time I read Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease, it was still damn good (despite it being required reading in grade school.) Of course, it was set in Shakespeare's England featuring a girl pretending to be a boy acting as a girl in an acting company.

And, I know this is weird, but I have to say Colin Renfrew's Archaeology and Language, which is NOT fiction, but is a very good discussion about an alternate theory for the spread of farming and language through Europe. I read this book years after I got my degree in Anthropology, and for the first time I realized that all those 'facts' I'd read during my studies weren't facts but theories. And it's possible to have theories that conflict with the accepted ones. Of course, it helps that Renfrew is one of the masters in the field of archaeology, but it made me THINK again. (I suppose this also goes towards the idea of 'canon' in any field. Like EM, I'm an individualist. I have my own ideas, which I can usually back up. I wrote a paper once for a post-degree class based partially on Archaeology and Language, which used Renfrew's spread of language and farming through Europe to point out the importance of beer in early non-Mediterranean cultures.)

I think that's 5. At least. And of course I take a simple, short question and make an essay of it. Because my mind doesn't work 'short' when it comes to comments.

Also, Poe's works are so carefully contrived to stick in one's soul. A Cask of Amontillado is one of my favourite short stories. O. Henry, too.

Gail: I'm curious. Why Going Postal, of all of Pratchett's works? I'm a big fan of Pratchett. Of all his works, as you can see above. While Going Postal is a good book (as are most of the series), I'm curious as to why you chose it. (Also, LOVE Callahan's Crosstime Saloon!)

Jennifer: Actually, Frankenstein was one of the first science fiction stories, not horror. :)

As the only child at many a grown-up party, I looked forward to evenings at the home of an Englishwoman who loved both me and traditional mysteries. She would let me hang out upstairs in her library, and generously loaned out the book I was immersed in when it was time to say goodnight. I've read many other "study-this" mysteries since then, but the books that made me are because of that early kindness.:

Some Buried Caesar (Rex Stout)Gaudy Night (Sayers)Crooked House (Christie -- the reveal was such a shock to 11-year old me)Cover Her Face (PD James)I.O.U. (Nancy Pickard)

Not a mystery, but one of my all-time favorite tongue-in-cheek, laugh-out-loud novels: Good Omens (a collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett).

I have Eudora Welty, Doris Betts, Clyde Edgerton, and William Gay in my massive TBR pile. There are others I've read too, but I'm feeling too lazy to plod back upstairs to look - and I don't really need to...b/c, yep. Feeling purty good about my reading as I should be reading!

Murder Must Advertise (Dorothy L. Sayers) is one book I must re-read at least once a year.

I am still recovering from the fierce glare I got from a well-known writing teacher when I mentioned my love of MMA. Apparently writers must only read current novels. (which makes me think ... Jane Austen on a Must Not Read list? Really?)

I also re-read most of Rex Stout every year; but I don't have one in particular in mind. From Stout I have favourite scenes rather than favourite novels.

Daughter of the Forest / Juliet MarillierWolfskin / Juliet MarillierUprooted / Naomi Novik (okay, this one's new, but the first time I read it I knew it would be one of my go to books)The Glass Slipper (I don't remember the author - I read it years ago after finding it at random in my school library. Later, when I discovered online shopping, I tracked down a copy and read it again - still good. I have to read it again once I get all my books unpacked)

If I had to pick one of the books of all those listed in the comments today it would be DUNE.

If I had to pick one person’s list. It would be RosannaM’s. Let me whisper this confession: Even though I’m a lawyer and have lived in Alabama for nearly 30 years, I’ve never read “To Kill a Mockingbird.” I’ve bought two copies and one sits on my to-be-read shelves. I’ve never read “Catcher in the Rye” either.

But “1984” and “The Little House” books were major parts of my youth.

I recall reading Ian Flemings’s “Dr. No” (and many other James Bond books in high school and after college). I loved the opening and when I was reading the final confrontation, I literally jumped (fell) out of bed I was so caught up in it. I pulled “Dr. No” up on Amazon.com a few weeks ago and read the opening pages again. I had not realized how fabulous Ian Fleming’s writing was.

So Todays’ blog and comments convince me I will order and re-read “Dr. No.”

I’m a Robert Louis Stevenson fan, and did re-read “Treasure Island” a few months ago.

I finished Lou Berney’s “The Faraway and Long Gone” last night. Very good. I should comment more on it later.

I start Sara Paretsky’s “Fallout” today. I won it in a Goodreads giveaway. Winning a book at Goodreads is as exciting as catching a foul ball at a baseball game.

It will be my first Sara Paretsky (and V.I. Warshawski) novel. After receiving it, I figured I was destined to receive it. Her main character is V.I. Warshawski. My main character is E.J. Sniegorski. Similar name construction. Her character’s father is Polish and mother Italian/Jewish. My main character’s father is Polish and mother Italian. Kismet.

I write YA, so I read a lot of that too. And there are so many books that I love and re-read in that genre. But I guess I have to go back to where it all began with THE OUTSIDERS, the book that made me want to be a writer, made me write and still stands up over 30 years after I first read it. The rest of my favorites shift and change depending on the weather and my mood and what I've been reading recently, but that one never moves from the top spot.

I'd rather read all of your lists than provide my own, they're so good. But here goes:

Catch-22 by Joseph HellerMother Night by Kurt VonnegutThe Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael ChabonThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas AdamsFight Club by Chuck PalahniukAnything by Margaret Atwood, especially Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale.

On the sci-fi side I'll join the chorus of love for THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS and also submit votes for Arthur C. Clarke (CHILDHOOD'S END is my #1) and Isaac Asimov (I'll go with FOUNDATION). I have an embarrassing gap in the Octavia Butler department which I plan to fill soon.

I was so glad to see Sayers finally mentioned! I was rather surprised not to find her on Janet's list, but I guess most of her work wasn't quite country house.[1] Still, her command of the language and her treatment of English society is wondrous. Whether she or Christie tops my list for detective fiction varies based on which I am reading. (We have, I believe, all the fiction each of them published. I love the lesser known leads in Christie as much as the giants!)

One gaping hole in the scfi authors listed is James Schmitz. I love all of his work, but The Witches of Karres had a huge impact on me as a young teenager, and I still reread it once a year. I have given away at least a dozen copies to others who needed to read it. Keith Laumer also, especially the Retief books (despite some sexism) are excellent. Laumer was ex-AF and ex-diplomat; the stories of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne (CDT) are both hilarious and incerdibly insightful.

roadkills-r-us: Yes! Witches of Karres was one of my favourite novels when I was younger. It's weird that not many people know about it. I've read a Retief novella, but haven't read more of it yet, despite an interest. I should do something about that.

Really? You're making me dig out my list? To fire my canons? All right...I'll post the first half of the list and combine the genres like they do at the stores and leave you all guessing as to the rest.

I found myself nodding and smiling at so many of the books that made you all's lists. Books I had forgotten, but may revisit soon, and books that are totally new to me, but I trust I'll be finding a few of soon. (that sentence was clunky and would not survive an edit, but you get the drift.)

Thanks, Janet for this blog. It is always educational and filled with hope and inspiration, and only sometimes a little scary. :-)

Finally arriving sometime after 1 am, so no one will read this comment, but who cares? This was such a great post. Only 5? Okay, off the top of my heAd and in my phone riddled with possible typos.

1. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - Le Carre2. Be Cool - Elmore Leonard3. Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane4. The Long and Faraway Gone - Lou Berney5. Twelve titles tied for fifth ... will update when I figure out a tie-breaker system.

Waves, tentatively. Newbie, long in the shadows.Snagged a few for my TBR lists. That said, several of the lists had me LOL or "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." (Talk about high-handed attitude!) But isn't that what makes us writers? Discernment. Stance. Voice.Queen of the Known Universe, reverence for this challenge. Will walk my shelves and see if I can narrow my favs to five.

Dick Francis - Risk (although Proof and Odds Against would be up there)

Agatha Christie - Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack'd (although I have a fondness for The Body in the Library as it was the first I read)

As a side note, I know Kitty named her favourite Marple actress, but I have to shout out to Dame Margaret Rutherford as we're related. Sadly it was hard to take her seriously as Marple as she looked like my Grandfather in drag.

More contemporary, in the style I hope I'm writing in are series by:

Jenn McKinlay (I buy extra copies which I read with a number of different coloured highlighters so I can 'disect' her stories)

Your English is superb and I would not have been able to guess that English is not your first language if you had not shared that. You don't have anything to worry about. Feel safe to post to comment trails, agents, and editors all three.

Colin,

I wish I knew what to say, but not having read this book or that book does not a fraud make. If you think you should read something, just go on amazon and order a copy. Nobody can read everything. And rejection does not a fraud make, either. I can't seem to get this damn thing I am working on finished (although it is coming out better than I ever expected.) But far be it from me to classify anyone a fraud if they reject it when I do get it ready. If they give me feedback I can use to fix it (or throw it in the trash, as the case may be) I will remember them in my will. They may not want to be remembered, since I won't be leaving anything but debts. But they can pay a few of them off if they want to. It will be my way of saying thanks.

Actually, I will not call anyone a fraud for rejecting me even if they just send one of those form "You're an idjit" rejections. This thing is pretty edgy and they may want one of those feel good sunshine stories that has them barfing ice cream by the second chapter. (It does have a happy ending.) The way I see it, if they are running a business and not an art museum, it is MY responsibility to produce something commercial. The only responsibility they have is not to laugh at me too loudly. Well, OK, go ahead and let it rip.

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I'm a literary agent in NYC. I specialize in crime fiction and narrative non-fiction (history and biography.) I'll be glad to receive a query letter from you; guidelines to help you decide if I'm looking for what you write are below.
There are several posts labelled "query pitfalls" and "annoy me" that may help you avoid some common mistakes when querying.